Low-latency body area network for capturing body motions

ABSTRACT

Techniques for forming a specialized low-latency local area network with sensor modules are described. These sensor modules are respectively attached certain parts of a human body. Sensing signals or data from sensing modules are combined in a designated module, referred to as hub module, responsible for communicating with an external device. The hub module establishes a communication session with each of the remaining sensor (satellite) modules, where the session may be established over at least one channel. The hub switches proactively to another channel when there is any downgraded performance in the channel.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/423,130, now U.S. Pat. No. ______, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/219,727, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,304,230, which isa continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/271,205, now U.S. patentSer. No. 10/157,488, which claims the benefits of U.S. provisionalapplication No. 62/221,502, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CAPTURINGAND ANALYZING COMPLEX MOTIONS”, filed on Sep. 21, 2015, which is herebyincorporated by reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to motion detections, and moreparticularly to methods and systems for analyzing complex motions, suchas the movements by a person performing sports activities.

2. Related Art

Wearable technology is on the rise in personal and business use. Forexample, in sports and fitness, wearable technology has applications inmonitoring and real-time feedback. The decreasing cost of processingpower and other components is encouraging widespread adoption andavailability. However, the known technology is limited in its ability toprovide useful analysis and high-speed determination of motions capturedby a set of sensing devices placed on different parts of a body.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This section is for the purpose of summarizing some aspects of thepresent invention and to briefly introduce some preferred embodiments.Simplifications or omissions may be made to avoid obscuring the purposeof the section. Such simplifications or omissions are not intended tolimit the scope of the present invention.

In general, the present invention is related to capturing and analyzingcomplex motions made by a person performing activities. According to oneaspect of the present invention, sensing devices or sensor modules areattached to different parts of a body. As a person makes moves, thesensor modules, each including at least one inertial sensor, producingsensing data that are locally received in one module in communicationwith an external device either remotely or locally. Relying on theresources on the external device, the combined sensing data receivedfrom these sensor modules are processed and analyzed to derive themotions made the person. Depending on implementation, the externaldevice may be a mobile device, a server or a part of servers (a.k.a.,cloud computing).

According to another aspect of the present invention, one of the sensormodules designated to receive sensing data from other sensor modules isreferred to as a hub module while the remaining sensor modules arereferred to as satellite modules. Accordingly, a wireless protocol forreal-time low-latency streaming is provided and described forintercommunication between a hub module and each of its satellitemodules with features including at least timestamp synchronization,clock-skew mitigation, packet retransmission, error correction, sensordata compression, star-network topology, tree-network topology, and/orauto-frequency hopping.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a dataprocess is provided using combination of gyroscope, accelerometer,magnetometer data with features to compensate for MEM(micro-electro-mechanical) sensor data drifts, integrate humanbiomechanical model as a close-loop control system, automatically detectand warn a user of magnetic interference/environment change, allow auser to do simple quick static-pose calibration with consistent jointangle accuracy, avoid sensor drifts in very high-speed motions, andcompensate for missing sensor data.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a process isprovided to classify various motions (e.g., forehand, backhand, serve,volley, overhead, return of serve, slice in tennis strokes), strokephases (ready pose, back swing, forward swing, ball contact, followthrough, recovery), motion gesture recognition (e.g., foot hop, chesttap), footwork steps, ball contact location, kinetic chain and balance,weight transfer, head still, detect a “bad habit” motion symptom andintelligently guide a user for a fix or automated lesson.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a cloudarchitecture, design, or implementation is provided with features tosupport real-time sensor data streaming from thousands of userssimultaneously, compute-intensive sensor/motion processing withmilliseconds latency, streaming back to a client device for 3D motionanimation/analysis, synchronization of user metadata, motion library andsession recordings, instant playback of current/previous recording,remote coaching/viewing/broadcast, and sharing one's motions with one ormore other users.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, 3D graphicsanimation is provided with features to compare reference motion vs.actual motion having continuous and/or multi-pose motion, shadow trainwith imitation game, live on-court train with instant audio feedback,and materialize real movement of an object held in a user hand (e.g.,tennis racquet).

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a motionlibrary is provided with features to allow users to store referencemotions trimmed from recorded motions, select a motion to setup aspecific lesson and train on-court with instant audio feedback, select amotion to imitate in a shadow motion game, share a library with a groupof users (e.g., tennis academy group), and immortalize and monetizemotions of elite pros/users.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a wearablesystem is architected for many applications involving motions, whereinthe system is designed for analyzing complex motions by one or morepersons in areas, such as, sports, AR/VR, healthcare, and etc. Thesystem is applicable or modified uniquely for each target application.This application-oriented approach provides a more efficient andaccurate design.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the system canbe a camera-less, full-body motion capture and motion analysis productbuilt specifically for a sport (e.g., tennis). A wireless and portabledevice provides instant biomechanics feedback for technique optimizationand injury prevention. Scalable, cloud-based technology enables users tostore and share session data in real-time with coaches, friends andfamily anywhere in the world via a mobile application (App), as well ascompare a user's technique versus reference players (including pros) ina stored motion library.

The present invention may be implemented as a system, a part of asystem, a method, a process or a product. Different embodiments mayyield different advantages, benefits or objectives. It is believed thatvarious implementations may lead to results that may not be achievedconventionally. According to one embodiment, the present invention is asystem employing a plurality of motion modules attached to differentparts of a human body, tracking of motions of different body segments.Each of the sensor modules includes at least one inertial sensor orintegrated gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer. Further each ofthe sensor modules includes a wireless transceiver so that the sensingdata can be transported to a computing device to view the full motion ofthe person after the sensing data from some or all of the sensor modulesis analyzed and integrated. With a properly designed App, a computingdevice allows playback of current and past recordings of the sensor datain 360-degree view with slow motion, zoom and etc. The system alsoallows for comparison with reference strokes in a motion library that iscomposed of pro players, user-added players, user's own referencestrokes, etc. In addition, the system is provided for sharing sessionrecordings with coaches, friends, and family and storing of historicalsessions for years, and for real-time live remote coaching capabilitiesin any distant place. Optionally, the system is designed to performvarious data analytics to get advanced insights and information about auser's motion to derive the techniques in a game the user is playing.

According to another embodiment, the present invention is a system forcapturing motion performed by a user, the system comprises a pluralityof sensor modules respectively attached to different parts of a body, atleast one of the sensor modules acting as hub module and the rest of thesensor modules acting as satellite modules, and each of the sensormodules including a microcontroller, at least an inertial sensor and atransceiver for intercommunication with the hub module. The hub modulefurther includes another transceiver for communicating with an externalcomputing device, each of the sensor modules produces sensing data at apredefined frequency when a user makes moves, the sensing data from thesatellite modules are received in the hub module and combined with thesensing data generated within the hub module to be transportedwirelessly to the external device designed to derive the motion of theuser performing activities and facilitate a comparison between thederived motion with stored motion to illustrate a difference between themotion made by the user and motion made by another person

According to still another embodiment, the present invention is a methodfor capturing motion performed by a user, the method comprises:providing a plurality of sensor modules respectively attached todifferent parts of a body, where at least one of the sensor modules isdesignated as a hub module and the rest of the sensor modules aredesignated as satellite modules; establishing an intercommunicationsession between the hub module and each of the satellite modules toreceive sensing data in the hub module from the satellite modules;generating sensing signals in each of the modules when the user performscertain activities, the sensing signals sampled at a predefinedfrequency; combining the received sensing data with sensing datagenerated in the hub module; transporting the combined sensing data fromthe hub module to an external computing device for processing, whereinthe combined sensing data is analyzed to derive motion of a userperforming activities; and comparing the derived motion with storedmotion to illustrate a difference between the motion made by the userand motion made by another person.

According to yet another embodiment, the present invention is a methodfor communication between a hub module and a plurality of satellitemodules, the method comprising: searching by the hub module each of thesatellite modules per a list of the satellite modules in a firstchannel, wherein the list includes an identifier of each of thesatellite modules; switching to a second channel by the hub module tocontinue searching each of the satellite modules per the list when oneof the satellite modules is not responsive in the first channel, whereineach of the first and second channels is an inbound channel and pairedwith an outbound channel, there is at least one unused channel between apair of inbound and outbound channels. The method further comprisesencoding data packets based on an error correction coding scheme toreduce impact on neighboring data packets when one of the data packetsis corrupted when being transported between the hub and one of thesatellite modules.

There are many objects, features, and advantages in the presentinvention, which will become apparent upon examining the followingdetailed description of embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction withthe attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Throughout this document, drawings are provided to illustrate variousembodiments of the invention. Reference numbers may be re-used toindicate correspondence between referenced elements. The drawings areprovided to illustrate exemplary embodiments described herein and arenot intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.

FIG. 1A shows there are a number of sensor devices or modules placedrespectively on certain human body parts;

FIG. 1B shows two exemplary types of the modules, a satellite module anda hub module, wherein the hub module is made in a different shape fromthat of the satellite modules for easy recognition;

FIG. 2 shows a system configuration according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3A shows a function block diagram of a satellite module accordingto one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3B shows a function block diagram of a hub module according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows a sensor data flow in arrows from multiple satellitemodules to a hub module, where the hub module streams the combined dataflows via Wi-Fi Internet connection to a server (e.g., a cloud regionaldata center);

FIG. 5A shows a functional block diagram of the cloud frontend servicesaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5B shows the functional block diagram of cloud client servicesaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5C shows a functional diagram of cloud device data transferaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5D shows a functional block diagram of frame processing enginewhich may also be referred to as cloud event processing according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5E shows a functional diagram of cloud result data deliveryaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6A shows an exemplary system for martial arts;

FIG. 6B shows exemplary attachments of the sensor modules for martialarts;

FIG. 6C illustrates an anatomical description of resulting jointcalculated based on the two sensors attached onto two different bodyparts;

FIG. 6D shows different options to create an aligned anatomicalcoordinate system;

FIG. 6E shows an example of anatomical coordinate system createdaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6F shows a set of curves to identify the correlation between thespeed and joint rotations;

FIG. 6G illustrates how the sensors data is used to split measurementinto all the movement repetitions;

FIG. 6H shows a single repetition interval obtained by means of angularvelocity data visualized together with main joint rotations to identifythe joint behavior during the interval;

FIG. 6I shows that two components of angular velocity coming fromsensors data are correlated with each other in abscissa and ordinate;

FIG. 6J shows specific parameters can be calculated by comparingcorrelations between the inertial sensors output and the joint angles,to derive repetition of movement and subparts thereof;

FIG. 6K shows an example in which an amount of rotation of trunk betweenstarting posture and loading phase becomes a number characteristic ofthe initial preparation, while an amount of knee rotation duringswinging phase indicates the level of the kick;

FIG. 6L shows two separate movements made by the same subject (e.g., asingle person);

FIG. 6M shows an example of two different subjects sharing similarinertial sensors output pattern;

FIG. 7A shows an exemplary kinematic model for movement extraction;

FIG. 7B shows a set of curves, where 6 consecutive ball hits arerepresented together with the upper arm kinematics, high peaksacceleration are visible for more than one sensor axes;

FIG. 7C shows a picture of highlighting a situation in which, among 5consecutive ball hits, hit number 4 show differences in the pattern andpeaks above thresholds reached;

FIG. 7D shows an example of a ball assumed to be hit at the racket tipof the tennis player;

FIG. 7E shows an example of trajectory estimate of elbow and wrist for asimple elbow flexion task in the sagittal plane;

FIG. 7F shows both sagittal and frontal plane trajectories of elbow andwrist joint during a tennis serve movement.

FIG. 7G and FIG. 7H show additional examples where wrist and rackettrajectories are also estimated;

FIG. 7I shows an example in which an arm wearing a sensor module;

FIG. 7J shows an example of characterization works globally by analyzingseveral parts of the body together;

FIG. 8A shows a flowchart regarding the application of SEDA1 algorithmon forehand analysis, wherein SEDA1 provides high confidence in theidentification of forehand motions;

FIG. 8B shows a schematic representation of a recognized motion by SEDA1and SEDA2, where start and end of motion are visible together with theball hit event;

FIG. 8C shows each phase can be further described and split intosub-phases by means of an event different from the ball hit event;

FIG. 8D shows an exemplary user interface for tennis application;

FIG. 8E shows an exemplary pivot chart, where the data can becategorized by the stroke type;

FIG. 8F shows an exemplary history that allows a user to keep track ofhis training, where each tennis ball represents a training day;

FIG. 8G shows an exemplary background of the UI showing the history thatallows an business or advertiser to buy embedded marketing or productplacement for monetization; and

FIG. 8H shows an example of showing a product placement of TuringSense.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The detailed description of the present invention is presented largelyin terms of procedures, steps, logic blocks, processing, or othersymbolic representations that directly or indirectly resemble theoperations of data processing devices. These descriptions andrepresentations are typically used by those skilled in the art to mosteffectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in theart. Numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide athorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will becomeobvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without these specific details. In other instances, well knownmethods, procedures, components, and circuitry have not been describedin detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring aspects of the presentinvention.

Reference herein to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of theinvention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutuallyexclusive of other embodiments.

The present invention pertains to a system, a method, a platform and anapplication each of which is uniquely designed, implemented orconfigured to use distributed placement of sensor modules for capturingand analyzing motions of a human being performing various activities(e.g., per a sport). In one embodiment, full and/or partial body motioncapture and analysis are performed using an application-oriented,multi-sensor, high-speed algorithms and scalable system platform. Asused herein, any pronoun references to gender (e.g., he, him, she, her,etc.) are meant to be gender-neutral. Unless otherwise explicitlystated, the use of the pronoun “he”, “his” or “him” hereinafter is onlyfor administrative clarity and convenience. Additionally, any use of thesingular or to the plural shall also be construed to refer to the pluralor to the singular, respectively, as warranted by the context.

To facilitate the description of the present invention, one of twospecific sports such as martial arts and tennis are used as an exampleto illustrate how one embodiment of the present invention is used todetect and analyze motions in a sport. Those skilled in the art shallappreciate that the present invention can be applied to other sports,applications and common platforms. Embodiments of the present inventionare discussed herein with reference to FIGS. 1A-8H. However, thoseskilled in the art will readily appreciate that the detailed descriptiongiven herein with respect to these figures is for explanatory purposesonly as the invention extends beyond these limited embodiments.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like numerals refer to likeparts throughout the several views. FIG. 1A shows there are a number ofsensor devices or sensor modules placed respectively on certain humanbody parts. Depending on implementation, each of the sensor modulesincludes one or more inertial sensors that produce sensing signals whenthe modules are caused to move around. The sensing signals are sampledperiodically (e.g., every 10 millisecond) to produce sensing samples ordata.

In one embodiment, a system including one or more computing devices isdesigned to collect some or all the sensor samples from the sensingmodules attached to a user (e.g., a human performing certain activities)and track at every sample point if needed. The system is remotelylocated with respect to the modules, also referred to as a server, acloud computer or simply cloud, and configured or designed to performmotion analysis by processing a set of raw sensor samples receivedremotely from the hub module, and derive joint angle outputs to detectstart/end of motion, classify a motion type (e.g., forehand topspin,backhand slice, flat serve, etc.) and compute important attributes ofthe motion (e.g., injury risk evaluation, footwork quality metrics,power metrics, ball contact height estimate, etc.). The motion capture'sbody segment frames and motion analysis' attributes are then sent to adesignated app (e.g., tennis app) running in a mobile device, for 3Dgraphics rendering into a human avatar animation and motion chartanalysis.

FIG. 1B shows two exemplary types of the modules, a satellite module anda hub module. For ease of identification, the hub module or hub isdesigned to have a unique shape, different from the rest of thesatellite modules. A hub module is made in a distinct “+” medic shape inone embodiment. In some embodiments, the satellite modules connectwirelessly to a single Hub module, for example, via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,and etc. In one embodiment, the modules may communicate via aproprietary high-speed 2.4 GHz protocol. For tennis, the hub module maybe typically placed at the chest location and is configured to combinethe sensor data with the same timestamp and streams, for example, viaexternally Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi-Direct to a cloud datacenter or a mobiledevice (phone, tablet, or laptop).

According to one embodiment, raw sensor data is at 100 Hz sampling rateand processed by a cloud server or a mobile device for motion captureand motion analysis. Motion capture involves a set of mathematicalequations to track each joint angle. The system may perform motionanalysis by processing a set of raw sensor samples and joint angleoutputs to detect start/end of motion, classify the motion type (e.g.,forehand topspin, backhand slice, flat serve, etc.) and compute certainattributes of the motion (e.g., injury risk evaluation, footwork qualitymetrics, power metrics, ball contact height estimate, etc.). Since themodules are respectively attached to different parts of a body, thesensing data from each of the modules can be used to analyze attributesof the motion made at each of the body parts. In one embodiment, thebody segments along with the data frames as well as the motionattributes can be sent to an App (e.g., a tennis application) running ona mobile device, for 3D graphics rendering into a human avatar animationand motion chart analysis.

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram 200 according to one embodimentof the present invention. A user is attached with wireless sensormodules 202 that are relatively small in size and light in weight. Thenumber of sensor modules 202 and placement can be determined dependingon a target application and types of motion to be captured and analyzed.According to one embodiment, each sensor module comprises:

-   -   a 9-axis sensor chip having integrated 3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis        accelerometer, 3-axis magnetometer, such as those manufactured        by Invensense;    -   a 32-bit ARM Cortex M4F microcontroller (MCU) with floating        point arithmetic unit (FPU) to perform floating-point        math-intensive sensor fusion processing at every sensor module,        such as those manufactured by Freescale; and    -   a wireless chip with embedded 32-bit ARM Cortex MO MCU to        support 2 Mbps wireless communication, such as a Nordic 2.4 GHz        wireless chip.

In one embodiment, the wireless chip is based on a proprietary andenhanced Shockburst protocol, which has been deployed formedical/industrial devices. Other standard wireless protocols likeBluetooth/BLE, Ant+ and ZigBee may also be employed.

One of the sensor modules 202 is designed to function as a hub 204 ofall the satellite sensor modules, controlling and collecting sensor datafrom the satellite sensor modules. The sensor data from the satellitesensor modules are received and combined with the sensor data generatedin the hub 204 into one record having the same timestamp and streamedout to the cloud. Typically, the sensor data sampling rate is at 100 Hz,producing gyro x/y/z, accel x/y/z, mag x/y/z, and quaternion w/x/y/zvalues for each satellite every 10 milliseconds. To get robust databandwidth and wireless distance to a Wi-Fi router/hotspot, the systemmay include a Wi-Fi module supporting 802.11b/g/n. In the absence ofWi-Fi router/hotspot, the hub module can stream the sensor data directlyto a mobile device 208 (e.g., smartphone/tablet/laptop), for example,via Wi-Fi-Direct protocol. If the mobile device 208 has limitedcomputing resources compared to one or more cloud servers 210, motioncapture/analysis may be performed based on reduced information from thesensor modules, but overall still delivering the benefits in the presentinvention.

In the presence of an Internet connection 206 to a cloud datacenter(e.g., the servers 210), the captured and combined sensor data recordsare streamed continuously to the cloud datacenter. The data streamqueuing and processing may use a framework suitable for real-time streamanalytics and having sub-second response time. In one embodiment, thesystem uses open-source software components, such as Kafka (for messagequeuing), Jetty (for application session management), and Rserve (forexecuting R math programs).

With a Kafka framework, the system can queue sensor data streaming fromthousands to millions of users, while maintaining low latencyrequirement for real-time processing. Multiple sensor records may bebatched to be processed by the known R math program. One or more Rprocesses may be dedicated for each user to compute the following: Jointangle estimate of each joint based on multi-sensor data and humanbiomechanics model, rotational direction values of corresponding bodysegments, detection of the start, middle, end, and type of a motion thatis unique to a target application, all based on a sequence ofmulti-sensor samples (called frames).

For example in tennis, a motion could be a forehand topspin with startframe at ready position, middle frame at ball contact, and end frame atcompletion of swing follow through. The motion is analyzed for differentattributes or statistics, such as (for tennis) number of repetitions,footwork quality metrics (number of steps before ball contact, knee bendangle, balance), power metrics (swing speed, hand acceleration, ballstrike zone), injury risk analysis (elbow, shoulder, wrist, back, knee),and etc., all based on the available joint angles, approximate rotationvalues of all 21 segments of human skeleton (wire body) that is ready tobe rendered and animated by a 3D graphics software like Unity.

To complete the streaming, the output of joint angle processing andmotion attributes/stats can be streamed out to the user's mobile deviceto be further processed for live avatar animation and chart viewcreation. For playback and data analytics, every user's recordingsession may be stored in a cloud database. Both the raw sensor datainput and output results (e.g., joint angle frames, motionattributes/stats) can be part of the session record. For animationplayback and chart views, the output data may be retrieved and sent to amobile device. When there is enhancement or addition to the motioncapture and motion analysis algorithms, the system can re-generate theoutput results from the original input data.

The overall system stack comprises layers of hardware, firmware,wireless network, cloud infrastructure, real-time streaming software,biomechanics motion algorithms, database, big data analytics, 3Dgraphics, and a user interface. The following table summarizes thevarious aspects of the system.

Requirement System Feature 1. Capture and Employ inertial sensor chipsin analyze human smartphones and wearables to track motions with ormovements. Multiple inertial sensors without camera may track movementof body segments. To get better sensor fusion and positioning accuracy,a processor is employed to integrate all 3 micro-electro-mechanical(MEM) accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer. To further improvehuman motion capture and analysis, biomechanics modeling and knowledgeof the target application's activities are combined. 2. Instant Systemperforms high-speed algorithms biomechanics to analyze motions based onhuman feedback biomechanics model, joint angles, raw sensor data, andsensor fusion. System incorporates proper biomechanics knowledgebase andpatterns into the motion library to compare with, based on the specificsof target application. These algorithms require substantial mathematicalcomputations. To give instant feedback in sub-second, the systemprovides a real-time stream processing in the cloud for scalablecomputing. 3. Injury The system may incorporate injury preventionanalysis and motion library patterns/ analysis signatures based onstudies in biomechanics, physical therapy/ rehabilitation, sportsmedicine, and experiments in the target application area. The system maycontinuously add more injury patterns into the motion library andalgorithms and allow users to add their own injury patterns to recognizepossible injury. 4. Live In one embodiment, the system leverages remotemotion the cloud capabilities to enable real- monitoring time motionmonitoring of a user by or coaching other authorized users (coach,doctor, supervisor) from any distant places. Unlike video monitoring,the sensor stream bandwidth requirement may be several orders ofmagnitude less. 5. Share In one embodiment, the system motion re-leverages the cloud infrastructure to cordings with share motionrecordings with other authorized authorized users. users The system mayrecord both the raw sensor data input and output results (animationframes, motion attributes). When there is enhancement or addition to themotion capture and motion analysis algorithms, the system canre-generate the output results from the original input data. 6. Data Thesystem may store all user profiles analytics and recordings in thecloud's scalable insight database/storage. The system may deploy bigdata analytics tools and search queries to gain insight information uponrequest on user's own data, or anonymous business intelligence. 7.Scalable The system platform is based on an and adaptable architecturewith common building blocks to many target that can scale and adapt tocustomization applications and many target applications. In oneembodiment, the system leverages cloud's “infinite” computing resourcesto scale increased application complexity, the number of active users,concurrent sessions at peak usage, and newly developed applications. Thesystem may implement on-demand cloud resource management with loadbalancing to handle changing requirements and demands. 8. Affordable Thesystem may optimize COGS (cost of goods sold) by choosingcommodity/volume hardware components, cost-efficient contractmanufacturers, and license-free open source software packages. Thesystem may optimize operational costs through on-demand cloud resources.9. Easy to use The system may use an intuitive UI (user interface) withgame technology where users of all ages can operate easily without amanual or complex instructions. The system may select features that givemost benefits to users and present the feature capabilities inmulti-level UI, starting from simple to deep analysis. The system mayuse sensor packaging and harness designed for simplicity and ease ofuse.

Referring now to FIG. 3A, it shows a functional block diagram of asatellite module according to one embodiment of the present invention.There are essentially three primary components: a microcontroller (e.g.,Freescale K22F 32-bit ARM Cortex M4F with floating point unit), atransceiver (e.g., Nordic nRF51822 having 32-bit ARM Cortex MO), andmotion sensors (e.g., Invensense MPU-9250 9-axis inertial sensor chip).Other remaining components include a rechargeable battery, a USB batterycharger chip, a low-dropout (LDO) voltage regulator, and a micro-USBconnector. Besides for charging, the micro-USB connection is also usedfor firmware upgrade and serial communication.

FIG. 3B shows a functional block diagram of a hub module according toone embodiment of the present invention. In comparison with a satellitemodule shown in FIG. 3A, a hub module includes an additional componentto communicate with the satellite modules to receive the sensor signalstherefrom. In one embodiment, the additional component is based on aWi-Fi module (e.g., QUALCOMM Atheros GT202 Wi-Fi module) to enable thehub to communicate with the cloud directly via Wi-Fi Internetconnection, or to a mobile device via Wi-Fi-Direct protocol. It givesthe hub a longer range and higher bandwidth wireless capability than thetypical Bluetooth/BLE based wearable products. In one embodiment, themicrocontroller used is Freescale K22F MCU having 128 MB RAM and 1 MBflash memory.

To make the hub module and its satellite modules operate as a completewearable system, appropriate firmware (embedded software) is speciallydesigned to tie the different components in each of the modules tooperate as a synchronized unit and communicate with the cloud and/or amobile device having a designated App (e.g., referred to as TuringSenseApp) executed therein. The firmware is designed to manage how the dataflow and control flow are performed between or among the hub andsatellite modules, a process (e.g., an algorithm) of internal starwireless network among the modules, a wireless frequency hopping method,how to set the satellite device list, compacting sensor data, wirelesserror correction, and clock skew mitigation.

According to one embodiment, FIG. 4 shows a system block diagram 400with a sensor data flow in arrows from multiple satellite modules 402 toa hub module 404 that then streams the combined data flows via Wi-FiInternet connection 406 to a server 408 (e.g., a cloud data center). Itis assumed that the modules 402 and 404 are respectively placed ondesignated parts on a user. FIG. 1A shows some of the exemplary bodyparts of a user. As the user makes different moves (e.g., per a sport),the sensors in the each of the modules 402 and 404 generatecorresponding sensor data. The sensor data 410 from the satellitemodules 402 are transmitted to the hub module 404 that combines therespective sensor data including those generated within the hub module404 and transports the data 412 to the server 408. The combined rawsensor data as a record is then processed in the cloud 408 for motioncapture and motion detection/analysis, where the body frame andbiomechanics attributes are sent to a designated mobile device 414(e.g., a mobile device associated with the user) for real-time 3Danimation and motion analysis chart views. In one embodiment with theabsence of Wi-Fi internet connection, the hub module 404 streams thesensor data to the mobile device 414 via Wi-Fi-Direct protocol, and allthe motion capture and analysis are processed and displayed in thedevice locally. Later when the device 414 is connected to the Internet,the recorded data is uploaded to the cloud.

During these data flows, if one of the satellite module 402 is not readyto send out its data stream, the hub module 404 detects which one of thesatellite module 402 and sends a control flow command (shown in areverse arrow 416 of the data flow) to backpressure the satellitemodule. This is an important mechanism so that while the system canstream as fast as it could, it is adaptive to self-throttle at the sametime.

The following describes an internal star wireless network process basedon an algorithm using an Enhanced Shockburst (ESB) high-speed (2 Mbps)protocol. ESB is a proprietary wireless protocol with packet header andpayload definition of a simple/barebone physical media network layer. Itdoes not have the overhead and baggage like Bluetooth/BLE, ANT+, ZigBee,and other standard wireless protocol. Built on top of the ESB layer, aproprietary “star” network protocol is designed to connect manysatellites to a single hub. According to one embodiment, the pseudocodeof firmware is assumed to be running on the Nordic 32-bit ARM Cortex MOmicrocontroller in the satellite modules and hub Module.

The following pseudo code provides an example of the satellite's mainloop in Nordic:

loop forever {  print to logs  if a hub control packet came in (and CRCis good) {   obey any commands to set the RTC or change state   if thepacket is asking you to speak,    if its echoed CRC matches last datapacket sent,     fill a new data packet from the cbuf and send it   else     re-send the data packet you already built   if you sent rows{    try to get that many rows from SPI   }  }  if it's been longenough, & you aren't desperately  trying to drain the queue {   read arow from SPI  } }

The following pseudo code is used for the hub's main loop in Nordic:

loop forever {  if should set timestamp {   start internal RTC   notethe timestamp to set  }  choose next satellite which should speak  buildcontrol packet:   should the satellites be sensing? sending?   do thesatellites' RTCs need to be set?   include the CRC of the last packetyou received from this satellite  send the packet, wait for a reply(with a non-corrupt timestamp)  from the  satellite  if one comes in,  remember it   if the timestamp has advanced from that satellite's lastpacket,   the old packet is real. push its rows into the cbuf  print tologs } and then on SPI callback it builds the next packet... filling itwith rows from the cbuf if there are any and if the freescale hassending turned on.

According to another embodiment, wireless frequency hopping may be usedso that satellite modules find the hub and the hub finds the satellitemodules, where a channel is chosen for the group that is free ofinterference. In the frequency-hopping scenario, the hub will establisha communication session with the satellite modules in a free “channel”pair. However, if during communication, the hub experiences adowngrading performance with a satellite module, it will try to findanother set of “channel” to speak to the satellite module.

In one embodiment, the Nordic chip supports frequencies from 2.400 GHzto 2.526 GHz. These are described as “channels” 0-126, with each channelhaving a 1 MHz band. For full speed ShockBurst, the system may doublethis bandwidth. In other words, using ESB channels that are at least twoapart to prevent interference.

In another embodiment, the firmware is designed to assume that aparticular ESB channel is always used as a designated channel (e.g., anStM “Slave-to-Master” or MtS “Master-to-Slave” channel). Further, thesystem may be configured such that StM channels and MtS channels arespecified in pairs, in other words, there is a pair of inbound andoutbound channels. That is, if the MtS channel is ESB channel “2”, theStM channel would then be channel “5” to skip channels “3” and “4”, a 3MHz band instead of 2 MHz. Thus, for StM channel “2”, the system mayoccupy channel “2” and “3”, “4”, and its corresponding MtS channel “5”,and “6” “7”, for a total of 6 channels.

This leaves a set of 21 LCP (Logical Channel Pairs). In the USA, onlythe frequency range of 2,400-2,483.5 MHz is permitted for unlicenseduse. In other words, channels 0-83 are only used, which means there are14 logical channel pairs. It is these LCPs that are referred to as“channels” for some embodiments deployed in the USA. Thus, a channelrepresents the pair of adjacent channels—the MtS and StM together. Bothare included in this check, because the round trip goes through bothchannels, and it is successful round trips that the hub is measuring.

In one embodiment, on a given channel, the hub module talks to all ofits satellite modules (or tries to), respectively. After a predefinednumber of trips (e.g., four trips) through the satellite list, if thenumber of successful round trips is <=60%, the hub moves onto the nextchannel. This may occur even if the hub has settled on a channel. Thehub monitors the last four trips through a satellite list so it cannotice any degradation in communication. When the hub moves on to a newchannel, it first sends out a special control packet warning thesatellite modules of the fact. The satellite modules follow anywaybecause their hub is vanished from the original channel. Further, thismay be used as a precaution because the satellite modules followingimmediately makes it easier to get a good measurement of the QoS on thenew channel.

On any given channel, when unpaired, a satellite module is caused tolisten for a predefined time (e.g., 16 ms) to see if a hub is there in achannel. If not, it moves on. If so, it listens through the hub's entireround-robin loop, to see if its own name will be called. If so, great;here's where it will stay until it doesn't hear the hub for 26 ms, orits own name for 3 go-arounds. If its own name isn't called, it moveson.

In one embodiment, the satellite modules are designed to haveassumptions that during communication with a hub, the hub may actuallychange from one hub to another hub. It may be slow for a satellitemodule to find its hub. For example, if a user is at a Tae Kwon Dostudio or some place with a large number of hubs (carried by otherusers). To get around this, a method referred to as imprinting may beused. In one embodiment, imprinting means that a satellite module isprogrammed or hard-coded, hence imprinted, to communicate with aparticular or designated hub. Instead of waiting for a predefined time(e.g., 16 ms) on a channel to see if a hub is there, a satellite moduleis designed to wait for a particular hub, that is the last hub thatcalled the name (e.g., identifier) of the satellite module and shunothers. That imprinting can be broken if a satellite module goes for afew cycles without seeing that hub, or if a predefined time is gone neara hub but the hub did not call the identifier of the satellite moduleanymore.

In one embodiment, the hub module may call itself Device 0, and alwaysassumes that the satellite modules are Devices 1, 2, . . . N. In anotherembodiment, each device may have a 32-bit serial number as anidentifier, and the hub module talks to the satellite modules that thecloud specifies.

Instead of going round-robin from 1 to N, the hub module may goround-robin along the list of satellite modules given by the command. Inaddition, in some cases, the system may make a change to the length ofthe satellite modules list, and in some cases change to a maximum numberof satellite modules that the hub will need to support a predefinednumber of satellites (e.g., 14 satellite modules).

For frequency hopping, the hubs may be distinguishable from each other(i.e., have different device IDs). The hubs may also be distinguishablefrom satellites. For example, the high byte of hub serial numbers may beset to something different than that of satellites. In one embodiment,the system (hub and satellite) sends the quaternion data as four floats(32 bits each). Floats may accommodate any value from 0 to infinity. Ifthe quaternions are represented as enums and bounded fields (0-N), thesystem may save storage space without losing any important data. In oneembodiment, quaternions are a vector with a direction (orientation axisof the sensor) and a magnitude (rotation around the axis). The magnitudemay be stored separately, and then, the x, y, z of the vector can bescaled up and down freely. In other words, a quaternion {w, x, y,z}={120°, 1, −2, 3} is completely equivalent to {120°, ⅓, −⅔, 1}. Infact, any quaternion can be written with the biggest of its x/y/zvalues=1 or =−1, in which case the other two terms will always be scaleddown to between −1 and 1 inclusive.

The following data structure is one example that may be used in theembodiments:

typedef enum {  INVALID, /* for an all-zero quaternion */  X_POSITIVE_1, Y_POSITIVE_1,  Z_POSITIVE_1,  X_NEGATIVE_1,  Y_NEGATIVE_1, Z_NEGATIVE_1 } unit_vector_component_t; struct { unit_vector_component_t unit_component;  int16_t first_term /* −32767 =−1.0, 32767 = 1.0 */;  int16_t last_term /* −32767 = −1.0, 32767 = 1.0*/;  uint16_t w; /* 0 = 0°, 65536 = 360° */ }vector_t;

As shown in the example above, {120°, 1, −2, 3} would be encoded as{unit_component, first_term, last_term, w}={Z_POSITIVE_1, 10922, −21845,21845} 3 is the most significant, so instead of being stored literally,unit_component states that it is the one equal to 1, hence Z_POSITIVE_1.Thus, in a normalization process x=1, which becomes x=⅓, which becomes10922 (⅓ of max_int32). When y=−2, which becomes y=−⅔, which becomes−21845 (−⅔ of max_int32). When there is an angle of 120 degrees, itbecomes 21845 (⅓ of max_uint32).

Below is exemplary pseudocode:

encode(w, x, y, z): output.w = w *65536  if x, y, z are all 0:  output.unit_component = INVALID  else if greatest of abs(x), abs(y),abs(z) is x:   output.unit_component =    X_POSITIVE_1 if x>0 elseX_NEGATIVE_1 first_term = (y/x)*32767 second_term = (z/x)*32767  else ifit's y:   output.unit_component =    Y_POSITIVE_1 if y>0 elseY_NEGATIVE_1 first_term = (x/y)*32767 second_term = (z/y)*32767  else ifit's z:   output.unit_component =    Z_POSITIVE_1 if z>0 elseZ_NEGATIVE_1 first_term = (x/z)*32767 second_term = (y/z)*32767  returnoutput decode(unit_component, first_term, second_term, w): output.w = w/ 65536 if INVALID:  output.x = 0, output.y = 0, output.z = 0  else ifX_POSITIVE_1 or X_NEGATIVE_1: output.x = 1 output.y = first_term / 32767output.z = second_term / 32767  else if Y_POSITIVE_1 or Y_NEGATIVE_1:output.x = first_term / 32767 output.y = 1 output.z = second_term /32767  else if Z_POSITIVE_1 or Z_NEGATIVE_1: output.x = first_term /32767 output.y = second_term / 32767 output.z = 1 if unit_component is a_NEGATIVE_1:  output.x = −output.x  output.y = −output.y   output.z =−output.z  return output

The following data structure is an example that may be used in one ofthe embodiments: the above data structure takes up about 6½ bytes. Ifmerged half-byte with the ts_diff in the current RF packets, it reducesthe bytes sent per sensor record to 19 or 20 bytes. Encoding may be donein the cloud for storage and to save bandwidth when the data is beingsent back to a mobile device, for example, for rendering animated 3Dmotion playback.

When there is significant corruption of packets between a satellite anda hub, the most common pattern could be localized damage, either at theend of the packet or at the beginning of the packet. The beginning ofthe packet is hard to solve because it also corrupts the ESB header, andthe packet can be difficult to recognize. However, at the end of thepacket, it just ends up ruining the last N records. If there is room inthe packet after the last record, the system can put one more “row” in afashion similar to a Golay code for the last record. Golay codes are anerror correction code that is of the same length as the original dataand can correct up to 12.5% corruption.

Exemplary Clock Skew Mitigation

In one embodiment, the satellite modules are kept in sync, at least inthe data. Skew may exist due to initial propagation delay, but the skewcan be kept from changing once it exists and prevent the timestamps inthe data (as it appears on the hub) from getting further apart from eachother. As shown in FIG. 3A, a module K22F is talking to another moduleNordic over an SPI (Serial Protocol Interface), entirely or separatelyfrom any sensor records it might send, it also includes its currenttimestamp. The first time it does this, it compares the two numbers, andremembers the original skew. For instance, if the K22F says “My clockreads T+2 ms” and the Nordic's own clock at the moment it receives says“T+3 ms”, it assumes there's a 1 ms difference, and that 1 ms differenceis normal. But if the difference ever changes, it then assumes that theclock on the K22F is ticking slightly faster or slower than the clock onthe Nordic. Thus future timestamps are adjusted accordingly. The Nordicin a hub does the same thing that K22F in a satellite does.

For example, every time it sends out a control packet, it includes afield that indicates “when it is sending this packet out, and its clocksays it's T+Xms.” Thus, the satellite Nordic now also knows if the hubNordic's clock is going faster or slower than its own, and if so, by howmuch. Accordingly, the system can cleanly join those timestamps witheach other. If they started out of alignment, they'll stay out ofalignment. But if they started in alignment, they'll stay in alignment.Drift over time can thus be eliminated in some of the embodiments. Otherways of dealing with clock skew may also be incorporated in theembodiments.

Cloud Software Design

In one embodiment, the system operates high throughput and low latency,reliable and scalable cloud services in order to achieve the followinggoals:

-   -   low latency frame data transfer from devices (modules) to the        cloud application tier nodes (App),    -   virtually no downtime by distributing load to multiple servers        via load balancing service (LB),    -   quick and reliable messaging services to decouple frame data        transfer from the frame processing (Queue),    -   streaming frame data processing in the execution engine tier        (Exec) using algorithms implemented in R engine (R),    -   near real time delivery of calculated angle and motion results        from the cloud application tier (App) to clients (Client), and    -   persistent, scalable data services for offline data transfer        from data store (DB) to caching tier (Cache) to the application        tier (App).

FIG. 5A shows a functional block diagram 500 of the cloud frontendservices. In some embodiments, “near real-time” may be based on framesthat take 300 milliseconds to 600 milliseconds for the time that covers.For frame data that is generated in a module and ready to transfer tothe cloud, the web service requests are sent to the cloud and the devicegetting confirmation that data has been received. The received data isprocessed in the cloud, all frame results are calculated, and a client(e.g., a mobile device) retrieves frame results from the cloud and datais ready for visualization.

The data flow may be a stream of raw data frames. In another embodiment,a data frame may be a vector structure representing a collection ofmetrics collected from a set of sensor modules in a single pass thatoccurs at a predefined frequency (for example 100 Hz, i.e. a raw dataframe is generated every 10 milliseconds).

In a web service implementation, raw frame data are shipped in sets thatare defined as: FrameSet=(Fi, Fi+1, . . . , Fj), where i is an index ofthe earliest raw data frame ready to be shipped, j is an index of thelast generated raw data frame ready to be shipped, j>=i, i.e., eachframe set contains at least one frame, Time(Fi)<Time(Fi+1)<Time(Fj),namely all frames in a data set are generated in order.

Each frame may belong to a frame set, i.e., a device will ship collectedsensor data until the recording stops. Frame data set is encoded andsent as a part of a web service request to the cloud application tier(App). The application tier will pass the message to the data queue inthe messaging tier (Queue) and return an acknowledgement that the cloudhas received the frame data set and that the device can send the nextframe data set.

The messaging tier (Queue) may provide the following functions:Producer/consumer asynchronous access to frame data; message durabilityfor a predefined period of time ensuring that there is no data loss;separation of processing on the application tier (App) and the executiontier (Exec). This means that these two tiers will not block each otherduring the processing. Each message in the data queue may represent asingle frame data set.

The execution tier processes an incoming frame data stream in the sameorder the frames are generated. While processing the stream, theexecution tier (Exec) is designed to recognize the motion, which isdefined as a subset of consecutive frames that belong to a specificactivity. Motion=(Fi, Fi+1, . . . , Fj), where: i is an index of thefirst data frame that belongs to the activity, j is an index of the lastdata frame that belongs to the activity, j>=i, i.e., each motioncontains at least one data frame. Not all frames belong to a motion andsuch frames are considered “inactive”. Results of the frame and motionprocessing are stored in the result queue. These results are provided tothe application tier (App) for result delivery to the client application(Client). The client may then send web service requests for allavailable data in the result queue.

FrameResultSet=(Fi, Fi+1, . . . , Fj), where: i is an index of theearliest data frame that has not been retrieved by the client, j is anindex of the last data frame that is available in the frame resultqueue, j>=i, i.e., each frame result contains at least one data frame.MotionResultSet=(Mi, Mi+1, . . . , Mj), where i is an index of theearliest motion result that has not been retrieved by the client, j isan index of the last motion result that is available in the motionresult queue, j>=i, i.e., each motion result set contains at least onemotion result, and M is defined as a vector containing a set of elementsdescribing motion statistics.

In one embodiment, application, messaging and execution tiers areimplemented in a horizontally scalable manner. They include multipleservers for each tier. All servers implement the same functionality inorder to provide transparent failover in case of a single server failureor other network or infrastructure problem that could cause some ofservers to be inaccessible.

FIG. 5B shows the functional block diagram 520 of cloud client services.The client services shares a common set of APIs, where the APIs are aset of exposed web services, available to the sensor modules and clientapplications. Some of APIs include:

Security API—a private API to implement authentication and authorizationservices, where the authentication services include external services,such as, via Oauth2 standard;

-   -   Account API—a private API to manage all application objects and        metadata in the persistent data store. This layer also provides        access to external payment services to support license and        subscription services;    -   Queueing API—a private API to store and access frame and motion        data required to support real-time services. It may be used to        decouple device and client requests from the data processing in        the execution layer. This layer is a producer for the Cache API;    -   Cache API—a private API to implement data caching required to        reduce number of physical IO requests for frame and motion data.        This layer is a consumer of Queueing API and Database API; and    -   Database API—a private API to allow access to frame and motion        data in the persistent data store. This API is a producer for        the Cache API.    -   All transient device and client session properties are stored in        the Session Context within the application execution engine        (jetty).

FIG. 5C shows a functional diagram 530 of cloud device data transfer.The sensor modules send data to the cloud using Device Data Transfer WebService. This web service is implemented in the application tier. Thisdiagram 530 describes the data flow on a single application server, butthe application tier (App) is implemented using multiple applicationservers that contain the same code and logic. According to oneembodiment:

-   -   step 1: Device will execute REST call that includes frame data        set with one or more data frames;    -   step 2: Load balancer will assign the request to a specific        application server;    -   step 3: Jetty service will accept the request and invoke the        Client API;    -   step 4: Client API will decode the message and pass it to the        validator;    -   step 5: Validator checks if the message is coming from the        registered (genuine) device;    -   step 6: MessageRouter implements the algorithm to decide which        queue partition will accept the message; and    -   step 7: Queuing API waits for the confirmation from messaging        service (Queue).

Result: If the above-described list of steps is completed successfully,send “OK” as acknowledgment to the device. In case of errors whereClient API, Validator, MessageRouter or Queueing API fails for anyreason, send “ERROR”, optionally with the additional error message.

Retransmission: a module is caused to send the frame data set again incase of a failure or timeout. If the number of retransmission requestsexceeds the predefined limit, the module will stop data transfer.

Backlog: In case of a high latency and low bandwidth network connectionbetween the hub and the cloud, the number of raw data frames that arenot yet sent to the cloud will start to increase, potentially causingdevice to exhaust available memory space. In such case, the server canbe configured to recognize such condition and send the hint as a part ofan “OK” message to the device containing recommended frequency at whichto send data. This is needed to optimize the network utilization. Forexample, a cloud service can send back the hint to reduce framegeneration rate from 100 Hz to 50 Hz.

FIG. 5D shows a functional block diagram 540 of frame processing engine540 which may also be referred to as cloud event processing. AnExecution tier (Exec) is implemented using multiple execution servers inthe cloud. These servers operate on raw frame data stored in a singledata partition in the messaging tier (Queue). The distributed queue isimplemented with the low latency, i.e., time between the producer eventstoring the message in the queue and the time when the same message isavailable to the consumer allow implementation of near real-time frameprocessing.

MessageConsumer is running on an execution server and provides themessage containing frame data set to the data handler that decides howto route the message to one of the available worker threads (Wrk1, . . ., WrkN). Each worker has its own message buffer (Buf1, . . . , BufN).This buffer allows asynchronous storing of messages by the DataHandlerand processing of the message by the worker; they are not blocking eachother.

Each worker (Wrk) is connected to the instance of R server (RS) at themoment of worker initialization. This means that connection to R serveris always open and data can be efficiently processed removing theoverhead of connection handling. The processing of the message in theworker may be implemented using the following algorithm:

-   -   step 1: Convert the message containing frame data set to        internal data structures in host programming language;    -   step 2: Pass internal data structures to R server;    -   step 3: Invoke R server function to process the frame data set;    -   step 4: Collect the frame result set from R server function        calculation; and    -   step 5: Pass the frame result set to ResultHandler.

ResultHandler taked the frame result set and perform the followingsteps:

-   -   step 1: Convert the frame result set to message format required        for the Queue;    -   step 2: Invoke algorithm to decide which Result Partition will        accept the result message; and    -   step 3: Store the result message in target Result Partition.

In one embodiment, the Execution server avoids the use of file systemfor interim data. This allows that all data are available in the systemmemory and processing in a single worker thread can keep up with therate of data generation by the sense modules. FIG. 5E shows a functionaldiagram 550 of the cloud result data delivery. A client applicationsends a request to the cloud Result Data Web Service to get the frameand motion results required for the application functions such asvisualization and data analysis. This web service is implemented in theapplication tier. This diagram describes the data flow on a singleapplication server, but application tier (App) is implemented usingmultiple application servers that contain the same code and logic. TheBufferHandler implements access to Queueing API to fetch data from theResult Partition in case of real-time data processing. In case when theClient requests data that are not real-time, then it uses DB API tofetch stored result data from the persistent Result Data Store. Data arestored in the Circular Buffer and available for the ResultReader in anon-blocking fashion.

-   -   step 1: Client will execute REST call that requests result data;        request specifies (a) timeout (T) how long application server        will wait for result data, and (b) maximum number of frames (N)        in the result data set;    -   step 2: Load balancer will assign the request to a specific        application server;    -   step 3: Jetty service will accept the request and invoke the        Client API;    -   step 4: Client API will decode the request and pass it to the        ResultReader;    -   step 5: ResultReader will wait up to timeout T if there are no        data available in the Circular Buffer;    -   step 6: ResultReader will read up to N frames from the Circular        Buffer; and    -   step 7: Client API will assemble the result message and send the        response back to the Client.        Result: If the above-described list of steps completed        successfully, send response with the result frame set to the        client. In case of errors where Client API, ResultReader or        BufferHandler fails for any reason, send “ERROR”, optionally        with the additional error message. Timeouts and errors: the        client will try to request the result data set again in case of        a failure or timeout. If the number of errors exceeds a        predefined limit, the client can stop requesting the result        data.

Martial Arts Exemplary Embodiment

To facilitate the understanding of the present invention, thedescription for a martial arts application is provided herein. In oneembodiment, the system is configured to extract movement features fromdata obtained by in vivo measurement of human body motion tasks usingthe inertial-sensors technology, creating standard ensemble of knowledgearound specific motions and use the above information around specificmotions to automatically recognize the type of movement coming from datacollected, investigate on its peculiarities, automatically determine thepart beyond standard execution of the gestures.

In one embodiment, the system operates according to the followingworkflow. A set of inertial sensors is positioned on different parts ofa user according to a predefined set of rules. A mobile device may beused as a locator machine to examine the sensors outputs in order toverify if the set of rules are correctly followed. Before taskexecution, the user is asked to carry out a set of predefined tasks orassume specific postures in order to calibrate the system or the set ofsensor modules. Multiple calibrations may be performed if needed. Eachcalibration performed allows the system to calculate constant relations(K) between sensor modules positioned on the body and the body segmentsupon which they are attached. Each constant relation is calculated sothat each body segment can be a reliable representation of anatomy andfunctionality behind. For each instant of time while a specific task isexecuted, joint kinematics is calculated in terms of angles of rotationin a 3D coordinate system. Together with the above, inertial quantitiesfor each body segment are obtained from digital manipulation of theoutputs from the inertial sensors in the modules. The inertial sensorsoutputs are then correlated with each other in order to identifyspecific motion patterns representing a cyclic order of execution ofconsecutive repetition of the same movement. 3D Joint angles ofrotations are correlated with the inertial sensors outputs so that aphase of movement can be identified. Specific parameters may begenerated by comparing the above correlations with a predefined dataset.These parameters may be compared with a dataset coming from a referencedatabase of tasks, obtaining as result how much and in which phase thesubject is executing the task differently from the reference.

FIG. 6A shows an exemplary system 600 for martial arts. Aninertial-based system is used in order to capture the motion made by asubject or user. The system is made of a specific number of probes, eachproviding 3D inertial sensors data (acceleration, angular velocity, andmagnetic field vector) and 3D orientation data within a common 3D globalcoordinate system created using the same sensors data at the first frameof analysis. In this text, the sensors data may refer to a single sensorcomponent output or combined sensing data from a sensor module. Allsensors are synchronized together in time so that they share the sametiming of movement.

Anatomical Description Construction

FIG. 6B shows exemplary attachments of the sensor modules 610.Anatomical description of each joint and segment is required in order toquantify all of the segments and joints that are involved in a specificgesture or sequence of gesture. In one embodiment, anatomicaldescription does not simply relay on data coming from the probes andexpressed with respect to the global coordinate system. A predefinedrelation between the probes outside of the body and segments and jointssensed by the system may be used to make the anatomical description.

Calibration

During calibration, each constant relation is calculated so that eachbody segment can be a reliable representation of the anatomy behind. Thereasons why it is important to implement the anatomical description ofjoints, instead of simply getting the relative orientation between twoprobes positioned on the two segments, are multiple. Without theanatomical description, each sensor positioned on the body segment canonly provide information regarding the “overall” behavior of the rigidbody. In this way, the body segments which are completely differentmight have the same orientation outputs. Without the anatomicaldescription, the resulting joint calculated from the two sensorsorientation will not describe the 3D anatomical rotations. In otherwords, a knee that has few degrees of rotation would be assumed like itis bull rotating like in a rodeo country simulator as illustrated inFIG. 6C. Therefore, without the anatomical link, it is not possible toexplain the signals coming out from the calculations.

The first step in creating the constant relation between a sensor moduleand a body segment underneath requires the construction of an anatomicalcoordinate system for the segment. Since the probes do not normallymeasure body landmarks or specific trajectories, the creation of theanatomical coordinate system may be performed by fusing the sensors datawith orientation data, using different methods, such as that shown inFIG. 6D, where it shows different options to create an alignedanatomical coordinate system.

An example of the anatomical coordinate system construction 630 is shownin FIG. 6E, where the vertical anatomical axis (Y) is constructed bymeans of gravity direction, the medio-lateral or mediolateral anatomicalaxis (X) is constructed in order to be driven by the vertical directionand the embedded z axis direction is sensed by a sensor positioned onthe subject's trunk. The third anatomical axis Z is constructed as across product of the first two in order to eventually obtain anorthogonal, right-handed ruled tern of axis. The following equationssummarize the relationships.

^(G) y_trunk=gravity vector

^(G) x_trunk=^(G) z(trunk sensor)∧^(G) y_trunk

^(G) z_trunk=^(G) x_trunk ∧^(G) y_trunk

Thus the anatomical trunk at instant t* during calibration is given by:^(G) R _(anat_tru)(t*)=[^(G) x ^(T),^(G) y ^(T),^(G) z ^(T)].

The constant relation (from the same instant of calibration) istherefore calculated as follows:

^(Anat_tru) R _(sensor_tru)(t*)=K=[^(G) R _(anat_tru)(t*)]^(T)*^(G) R_(sensor_tru)(t*);

the resulting anatomical coordinate system is represented in FIG. 6E.

Joint Rotation Calculation

The constant relation (from the same instant of calibration) istherefore calculated as follows: each joint of the body (for example theknee) is modeled anatomically starting from the anatomical descriptionprovided by the two adjacent segments, a proximal segment (thigh) and adistal segment (shank). The trunk of the body gives the only exception.Although created anatomically, it does not have a proximal joint toconsider, therefore it will be here considered as a fictitious joint,where proximal segment is the global coordinate system. The steps usedto perform the joint kinematics calculation are described below.

First, at every step t during kick, anatomical orientation of theproximal and distal segments, at step t, are calculated as follows forthe knee:

^(G) R _(anat_thigh)(t)=GR _(sensor_thigh)(t)*^(anat_thigh) R_(sensor_thigh)(t*)

^(G) R _(anat_shank)(t)=GR _(sensor_shank)(t)*^(anat_shank) R_(sensor_shank)(t*)

The anatomical orientation of the joint is calculated as relativeorientation from the anatomical orientations between the distal and theproximal segments:

^(anat_thigh) R _(anat_shank)(t)=knee orientation;

3D joint angles of rotation are then calculated by extracting Eulerangles from the joint orientation, using a specific Euler sequence,chosen depending on the specific joint and movement to be measured.

Identify Repetitions of Movement

By the automatic analysis of the inertial sensors outputs, repetition ofthe same kind of movement is extracted and the overall executed task issplit into similar parts. This operation is performed by followingsignal patterns going above or below a specific set of 3 thresholds(high, medium, low) taking into account of the variability of movementin different people, sports and gestures. For example, first, atemporary splitting is performed based on predefined thresholds, so thatall repetitions can be overlapped each other, by aligning them in time.The three thresholds may then be recalibrated in order to optimizecurves overlapping.

Next, new thresholds are used in order to make a second split,eventually providing a time interval for each repetition of movement.The sensor data used for such splitting can be one of the three angularvelocity or acceleration components. The reason why this cannot beperformed efficiently on kinematics or orientation data is that lowvalues signals from velocity and acceleration data immediately andreliably correspond to parts of no motion, therefore they areindependent from the subsequent movement or variability among people.

FIG. 6F shows curves 632 to identify the correlation between the speedand joint rotations. The 3D joint rotations and inertial sensors outputs(for example angular velocity of a body segment) can be correlated witheach other so that the sign and amplitude of the speed of movement arecoupled to a specific joint of the rotation, being therefore a predictorof the motion. This results in movement patterns for each movementrepetition, ready to be split into subparts, such as movement phases.

FIG. 6G illustrates how the sensors data is used to split measurementinto all the movement repetitions. However, the resulting intervals docorrespond to the entire movement, not its subparts. Therefore, in orderto distinguish among such subparts and make this operation robust enoughto detect all subparts in all the repetitions of movement, it isnecessary to couple the sensors data information with joint rotations.As shown in FIG. 6H, a single repetition interval obtained by means ofangular velocity data, is visualized together with main joint rotations,identifying joint behavior during that interval. In this way, it ispossible to split the interval into several subparts, where the entirerepetition is this time visualized using a representation independentfrom time, where 2 components of angular velocity coming from sensorsdata are correlated with each other in abscissa and ordinate as shown inFIG. 6I.

In the example, Phase 1 corresponds to initial preparation for backspinning kick, being this part linked to hip and trunk small rotations.Phase 2 corresponds to the initial part of the kicking leg swing, whilePhase 3 corresponds to the main part of the kick. Phase 4 is the phasewhere the kicker is returning to his initial position.

Characterization of Movement Phases

By comparing the above correlations between the inertial sensors outputand the joint angles, obtaining repetition of movement and subparts ofit, that is the phases, specific parameters can be calculated as shownin FIG. 6J so that such parameters characterize movement within eachsingle phases previously extracted.

FIG. 6K shows an example in which the amount of rotation of trunkbetween starting posture and loading phase becomes a numbercharacteristic of the initial preparation, while the amount of kneerotation during swinging phase indicates the level of the kick.

Compare Inter-Subject Variability

FIG. 6L shows two separate movements made by the same subject. Whenexamining the subject movement with respect to a previous datasetobtained from the same subject, a population or a second subject,parameters previously calculated are finally compared, obtaining as aresult how much and in which phase the subject is executing the taskdifferently from the reference.

In the example shown in FIG. 6M, two different subjects share similarinertial sensors output pattern, however speed of movement coupled withdifferent behavior at trunk and hip rotations, generated two differentkicks which can therefore be characterized, corrected to enhance subjectexperience or be stored for future use.

Tennis Exemplary Embodiment

For purposes of illustration, an implementation for a tennis applicationis now described. In this embodiment, the system is configured to:extract movement features from data obtained by in vivo measurement ofhuman body motion tasks using inertial-sensors technology, creatingstandard ensemble of knowledge around specific motions in tennis and usethe above information around specific motions to automatically recognizethe type of movement coming from data collected on a new task execution,investigate on its peculiarities, automatically determine the partbeyond standard execution of the gesture. The following sections includea short description of algorithms, which can be implemented. Sectionsare ordered in an exemplary sequence so that each item requires theprevious one to be implemented in order to operate correctly.

FIG. 7A shows a kinematic model 700 for movement extraction. Multipleinertial sensors platforms are timely synchronized with each other andattached over different body parts of a tennis player. The exemplarylocations include chest, shoulder, upper arm, forearm, hand, right andleft thigh, right and left shank, finally the racket. As previouslydescribed, different methods may be applied in order to extract jointkinematics of trunk, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip and knee kinematics,starting from a reference posture. A computing device described abovecan use the movement patterns based on joint kinematics to identify thespecific movement involved. Acceleration and angular velocity of bodysegments are used in order to split a movement, detecting phases andtheir alterations.

Algorithm for Detection of Ball Hits

3D acceleration data obtained from motion tracker positioned on theforearm and recording motion during tennis forehand gesture is treatedin the following way in order to obtain ball hits events. For example,verification can be done on the 3D acceleration during calibrationphase, in order to identify which sensor axis is sensing to ball hit,with respect to the sensor position on the body. For all the datasetavailable in time, the acceleration measured by the sensor axisidentified in the previous step is low-pass filtered using asecond-order Butterworth filer, in order to obtain a smooth envelope inthe signal. All local maximum values along the signal are marked as acandidate for the ball hit event. A specific threshold may be chosen tobe corresponding to 5 g in order discard peaks, which cannot becandidate events. Among the candidate events, a threshold of 8 g ischosen as an example in order to identify all high acceleration peaksalong the signal timeline. The threshold can be adapted with respect tothe specific subject, by asking to perform forehand gestures at his/hermaximum speed of movement before training. All time frames correspondingto the high acceleration peaks are stored and used afterwards in orderto split movement into different repetitions.

FIG. 7B shows a set of curves 720, where 6 consecutive ball hits arerepresented together with the upper arm kinematics, high peaksacceleration are visible for more than one sensor axes. The axis whichsuffered from the most acceleration is chosen as reference. By usingkinematics information signals as shown, a bug delay could be obtainedwhen identifying ball hits events.

Recognition of a Proper Repeatable Stroke Versus Abnormal Stroke

Considering a forehand action as an example, recognition of ball hitscan be performed from a different perspective than the detection ofimpact with the ball. The ball hits can be in fact recognized based onthe type of motion that is required to perform the ball hit. The resultis a more “functional” recognition of the event, based on what thesubject actually did around the event. This method allows toautomatically convert measured motion in answers to the followingquestions: Did the subject hit the ball always with the same range ofmotion? Was the coordination repeatable among all the repetitions ofgesture? Did the event actually occur? In other words, despite of themotion, was the ball missed? (This question in fact cannot be answeredby simply searching for the ball hit!)

In order to identify repetitions, motion pattern recognition will beused. A reference pattern constituted by threshold of range of motion atthe humero-thoracic joint is constructed for the subject duringtraining, by knowing a priori motion measured. Afterwards, thresholdsare used as described in the following algorithm. First, humero-thoracic3D joint angles are calculated for the entire dataset. Next, humerusflexion-extension angle component Vs time is filtered using asecond-order low-pass Butterworth filter. All local maximum values arefound along the signal pattern.

A threshold in the signal (typically around 80 degrees) is used in orderto collect all peaks that correspond to higher values than thethresholds. Steps 2-4 are then repeated for ab-adduction angle componentvs time and internal-external rotation angle component v time by usingrespectively 70 degrees and 150 degrees as thresholds. The number ofpeaks above the thresholds found in 4 and 5, for each of the anglecomponent, represent the actual strikes performed by the subject in eachof the three planes of movement. From a vector space perspective, theidea is that a 3D motion moving in the 4^(th) dimension (i.e. time) isequivalent to a 1D motion moving in the 4^(th) time dimension along 1plane, combined for each plane, like three players in differentdimensions are hitting the ball. Only if all the three players aremoving correctly in their plane, result in 3D will correspond to acorrect ball hit.

The minimum number of strikes among the 3 groups collected willrepresent the number of correct strikes, because only a strike correctlyoccurring in all the three planes will correspond to a correct 3Dcorrect strike. FIG. 7C shows a picture 730 highlighting a situation inwhich, among 5 consecutive ball hits, hit number 4 show differences inthe pattern and peaks above thresholds reached. The number of correctstrikes in the plane represented by the signal 732 in the correspondingcurve is therefore 4. If the other planes do not show a difference inthe pattern among the 5 ball hits, the minimum number of strikes amongthe three planes will be 4, therefore corresponding to 4 correctstrikes.

Algorithms for Repetition Identification

By means of previously calculated ball events, all start and stop eventsfor the movement repetitions are provided. The entire motion istherefore split according to the start and stop events, so that theentire dataset is grouped in as many timeslots vectors as the number ofrepetitions. All accelerations, angular velocities and joint angles aresplit according to these groups, obtaining a total of new N datasetwhere N stays for the number of repetitions.

Number of Steps Detection

Steps detection is applied in a similar way than the ball hitsdetection. Instead of forearm acceleration data, right and left shankacceleration data are used in order to detect the steps. In oneembodiment, verification is done on the 3D acceleration coming fromright and shank sensors during calibration phase, in order to identifywhich sensor axis is sensing jump/vertical motion, with respect to thesensor position on the body. For all the dataset available in time, theacceleration measured by the sensor axis on the right or left shankidentified in the previous step is low-pass filtered using asecond-order butterworth filer, in order to obtain a smooth envelope inthe signal. All local maximum values along the signal are marked ascandidate for ball hit event. A specific threshold is chosen discardpeaks that cannot be candidate events. Among the candidate events, athreshold of 2 g is chosen as an example in order to identify all stepsacceleration peaks along the signal timeline. The threshold can beadapted with respect to the specific subject, by asking to perform stepson site before training. All time frames corresponding to the highacceleration peaks can be stored and used to count the total number ofsteps along the measurement. The number of steps between each repetitionand the next is counted based on previously calculated time frames thatcorresponded to ball hits (therefore start/end of a repetition). Thesame may be applied both for right and left side.

Strike Zone Analysis

In order to evaluate if the ball was hit with body parts moving insideof the strike zone, the following steps may be carried out. These stepsmay be performed so that strike zone is not anymore considered only amatter of height, but how this height is actually reached by thesubject.

First, given joint angles split according to N dataset where N stays forthe number of repetitions. Hip flexion value is calculated at ball hittime, inside of each of the N groups. Step 2 is repeated for the kneejoint. Step 2 is repeated for the shoulder joint. Steps 2, 3, and 4 areperformed both for right and left side. Shoulder, Elbow, Wrist, Racketheight is estimated during all the repetitions of movement, by using thealgorithm described below.

Information coming from steps 1 to 5 will provide information regardingthe correctness of the movement, in terms of proper motion pattern. IfStep 7 did not result in an acceptable pattern, ball height will not beestimated. If Step 7 provided an acceptable pattern, ball height will beestimated to understand if the acceptable pattern occurred within thestrike zone. Ball height through direct kinematics:

-   -   height=152.3999951232+22.85999926848; % cm Joe    -   I1=0.186*height % upperarm    -   I2=0.146*height % forearm    -   I3=0.108*height % hand    -   I4=68.5799978054401% cm racket 27″    -   % sagittal plane    -   % settings theta values    -   theta1=ht.FE*pi/180;    -   theta2=elbow.FE*pi/180;    -   theta3=wrist. FE*pi/180;    -   theta4=0; % angle between hand and racket is assumed/to be zero

FIG. 7D shows an example of a ball assumed to be hit at the racket tipof the tennis player. In one embodiment, two 2D direct kinematics modelmay be created starting from player shoulder as origin of a Cartesianplane. One Cartesian plane is constructed for the sagittal plane motionof the player and the frontal plane motion, therefore providing a double2D model.

As for the application of direct kinematics concept, the main input ofthe model in each plane will correspond to anthropometric parameterscoming from the player (in this example the subject's height) and thejoint angles for humero-thoracic, elbow and wrist joint, taking only thecomponent involved in the selected plane. For example, for the sagittalplane, the model will use as input the humero-thoracic flexion-extensionangle, the elbow flexion-extension angle, the wrist flexion-extensionangle.

The reason for iterating the algorithm for the two different planes isto split forehand motion from 3-dimensional to 2 dimensions, thereforestudying separately the expected main pattern of motion in the sagittalplane and the secondary pattern of motion in the frontal plane.Variations in each of these planes will automatically correspond in avariation in the other plane, allowing to split variability in motiondue to the use of one plane with respect to the other.

The following steps may then be used in order to calculate ball height:assuming X is the direction forward with respect to the body, pointingforward is positive, while Y is the vertical direction pointing down,the origin is corresponding to the shoulder joint center:

Trajectory of elbow can be calculated as follows:

oEx_sag=I1*sin(theta1);% position of elbow along x axis

oEy_sag=I1*cos(theta1);% position of elbow along y axis

where I1 is the length of the upper arm derived from the subject'sheight and anthropometric tables from Woltring, 1990 and theta1 is thehumero-thoracic angle component of flexion-extension expressed inradians.

Trajectory of wrist can be calculated as follows:

oWx_sag=oEx_sag+I2*sin(theta1+theta2);% position of wrist along x axis

oWy_sag=oEy_sag+I2*cos(theta1+theta2);% position of wrist along y axis

where I2 is the length of the forearm derived from the subject's heightand anthropometric tables from Woltring, 1990 and theta2 is the elbowangle component of flexion-extension expressed in radians.

In a similar way, trajectory of the interface between hand and theracket can be calculated as follows:

oFx_sag=oWx_sag+I3*sin(theta1+theta2+theta3);% position of interfacebetween hand and racket along x axis

oFy_sag=oWy_sag+I3*cos(theta1+theta2+theta3);% position of interfacebetween hand and racket along y axis

where I3 is the length of the hand derived from the subject's height andanthropometric tables from Woltring, 1990 and theta3 is the wrist anglecomponent of flexion-extension expressed in radians.

In a similar way, trajectory of the racket can be calculated as follows:

oRx_sag=oFx_sag+I4*sin(theta1+theta2+theta3+theta4);% position of racketalong x axis;

oRy_sag=oFy_sag+I4*cos(theta1+theta2+theta3+theta4);% position of racketalong y axis;

where I4 is the length of the racket derived from its geometry andtheta4 is the angle component of flexion-extension of the racketexpressed in radians. If the racket is assumed to not move with respectto the hand, theta4=0.

In some embodiments, initial signal offsets can be removed as follows: %removing offset from measurements

for i=1: length(oEx_sag)

oEx_sag(i)=oEx_sag(i)−oEx_sag(1);

oEy_sag(i)=oEy_sag(i)−oEy_sag(1);

oWx_sag(i)=oWx_sag(i)−oWx_sag(1);

oWy_sag(i)=oWy_sag(i)−oWy_sag(1);

oFx_sag(i)=oFx_sag(i)−oFx_sag(1);

oFy_sag(i)=oFy_sag(i)−oFy_sag(1);

oRx_sag(i)=oRx_sag(i)−oRx_sag(1);

oRy_sag(i)=oRy_sag(i)−oRy_sag(1);

end.

An estimate of the inner static error in the method for the specificsubject (which can be used as tolerance to the user) can be obtainedfirst by calculating all the above variables during a calibration stepwhere the subject is keeping all arm and racket vertically. Then, bycomparing the maximum values reached by all the joints with respect tothe origin in all directions with the sum of the length of the segmentsincluded between the origin and the joint. For example in the case ofthe elbow, error estimate of the elbow height can be calculated asfollows: I1−max(oEy_sag). An example of resulting trajectory estimate ofelbow and wrist is provided in the picture for a simple elbow flexiontask in the sagittal plane as shown in FIG. 7E.

Steps 1-7 are repeated in a similar way considering a frontal plane.Assuming X is this time the direction lateral with respect to the body,pointing right is positive, while Y is again the vertical directionpointing down, the origin is again corresponding to the shoulder jointcenter. Theta1, 2, and 3 are this time corresponding to the second anglecomponent of the joint angles previously calculated from 3D kinematicsalgorithm, that is respectively humero-thoracic ab-adduction, elbowab-adduction, wrist ab-adduction.

Maximum and minimum values in the trajectories obtained in the sagittaland frontal planes are used in order to generate a 3D parallelepipedwhich will correspond to the maximum range that the player has reached.The values of the trajectories reached at the ball hit time, asdescribed in Section 2, will represent the actual height reached byjoint within the 3D parallelepiped. FIG. 7F shows both sagittal andfrontal plane trajectories of elbow and wrist joint, during a tennisserve movement. FIG. 7G and FIG. 7H show additional examples where wristand racket trajectories are also estimated.

Exemplary Motion Detection Algorithms

Motion detection algorithms may be employed for identifying with acertain confidence, what type of motion (among a pre-defined list) thewearable technology is measuring on a specific subject. A number ofvariables can be involved within the definition and development of suchalgorithms for the automatic recognition of the motion:

-   -   Type of movement: static posture, simple movement, complex        action related to a specific sport, quick motion in-between two        similar actions, quick motion in between two different actions    -   Sub-type of movement: a complex motion can be performed in N        different ways by the tennis player, however among them, there        are M different ways where M<N that the tennis player is        targeting    -   Intra-player variability, including:        -   biological variability        -   scenario/day variability        -   variability due to muscle fatigue/injury        -   variability due to learning effect by the player        -   variability due to speed of execution        -   variability due to the type of motion    -   Inter-player variability, including:        -   variability in the execution of the technique        -   variability due to speed of execution        -   variability due to type and gender        -   variability due to the type of motion

One way to be able to distinguish among the above variability factors isto perform a two-parallel ways analysis. Motion event detection allowsfor reducing the number of possible motions to the minimum ensemble thatcan correspond to the real ones. For instance, volley and tennis servecan be both related to the identification of a swing at height, howeverthey cannot be in the same ensemble of a lateral forehand. The machinerunning on such screening is able to distinguish among type of motionsbut not able to distinguish among the same motion repeated in differentways due to an increasing fatigue in the player. This screening workslocally on a certain part of the body. FIG. 7I shows an example in whichan arm wearing a sensor module.

Motion Characterization.

If the player is flexing the elbow 40 degrees, this can occur duringmany different types of motion. Therefore this value is notrepresentative of a specific motion. However, while motion detectionscreening would not look for such variation in the elbow, the motiondetection characterization helps to determine the way in which themotion detected in the above motion event detection was performed. Inthis way two tennis serves executed apparently in the same way locally,or globally show a difference that is due to the variability in thetechnique execution. This characterization works globally by analyzingseveral parts of the body together as shown in FIG. 7J.

Both the above parallel ways are focused on a 3-dimensional analysis or,better, on a 4-dimensional analysis where time is the 4^(th) dimension.This is because the motion pattern recognition can identify a motion notframe-by-frame but only within a certain “window” of data frames whichinclude the motion itself.

Motion Detection Parameters

The method 1) and 2) described so far can be applied in a sequence orwork together in order to calculate:

-   -   the beginning and ending of a certain motion    -   a specific time event within the motion, for example a certain        contact or impact    -   all inertial properties occurring within the motion (e.g.        acceleration, rate of turn)    -   all kinematics properties (e.g. joint rotations at shoulder,        elbow, wrist, chest, during the execution of a forehand)    -   based on previously described algorithm and the above        kinematics, measurement of X,Y position of joints on an        anatomical plane during the motion    -   quality indicator for a specific gesture. For example in the        case of a forehand action, by crossing information regarding the        trajectory estimation of the ball with the joint rotational        data, it is possible to track the “strike zone” inside of which        a correctly executed of the forehand action needs to operate    -   injury indicator for a specific gesture. All injury indicators        are based on the value reached by variables overcoming certain        thresholds that are defined based on a reference. For example,        the level of elbow flexion=0 degrees should not be overcome at        the ball contact event.

Event Detection Algorithms

The algorithms created for the detection of specific features belongingto a certain motion will be referred here as SEDA algorithms (ShotsEvent Detection Algorithms). Here below is an example related to the useof SEDA1 and SEDA2 algorithms:

SEDA1 is the first level of event detection algorithm and is based onthe pattern identification of the X axis measured by a 3D gyroscopepositioned at the wrist level of the tennis player, where the X axis isthe axis along the length of the forearm. SEDA1 is able to providestarting and ending frames of forehand, backhand, overhead.

FIG. 8A shows a flowchart regarding the application of SEDA1 algorithmon forehand analysis is provided. SEDA1 provide high confidence in theidentification of forehand motions. SEDA2 is a second level of eventdetection algorithm and it operates in a similar way than SEDA1. HoweverSEDA2 is created in order to increase the probability of identifyingbackhand and overhead shots.

-   -   SEDA2 is based on the pattern identification of the Y and Z axis        measured by a 3D gyroscope positioned at the wrist level of the        tennis player, where the X axis is the axis along the length of        the forearm, Z axis is pointing towards the inner of the        gyroscope.    -   SEDA1 is able to provide starting and ending frames of backhand        and overhead shots.

SEDA3 is the third level of event detection algorithm and it operates ina different way than SEDA1 and SEDA2. The latter algorithms usegyroscope signal as measurement input, while SEDA3 operates on jointkinematics information calculated as described in Chapter 6. An exampleof SEDA3 application regarding forehand analysis is based on thefollowing concept:

-   -   Although elbow joint is strongly related to the execution of a        forehand action, the range of motion regarding its flexion is        not characteristic of certain forehand phase but rather an        indication of the correct execution of it.    -   However, again for the elbow, if the tennis player is not a        beginner, elbow prono-supination angle is characteristic of the        moment of preparation to the hit and the ending of the forehand    -   In other words, the same forehand can occur with more than 100        degrees (combination) of elbow flexion, but much less        combinations of prono-supination angles    -   Therefore, in a similar way as in SEDA1 and 2, high and low        thresholds on the prono-supination angles can be used in order        to identify starting and ending phases of forehand.        In one embodiment, while SEDA1 and SEDA 2 can determine the ball        contact event by means of changes in speed.

Classifier and Confidence Level

Feature detection algorithms work on different signals at once. For thisreason, their output needs to be analyzed and weighted by a classifiermachine which at the end of the process returns, for each motionanalyzed, the percentage of confidence of the resulting classificationof type, sub-type, quality and risk level of the motion. This can be ofgreat value especially when it is required to analyze multiple motions,multiple movement repetitions or multiple subjects executing the samemotion.

An example of classifier based on SEDA1 and SEDA2 algorithm output ishere described. Steps involved in the classifier are:

-   -   Application of SEDA1 based on X axis gyroscope data    -   Application of SEDA2 based on Y and Z axes gyroscope data    -   Assembling arrays of identified forehand, backhand, overhead        motions    -   An overlapping window is defined by which, for each forehand        time interval found by SEDA1, the algorithm detects if any        backhands or overhead motions were found by SEDA2 and so on,        until a complete mapping is created    -   A classifier weight is therefore assigned to each type of motion        and a classification is presented

An example of classifier that analyzes and weights results produced bySEDA1 and SEDA2 algorithms is provided here together with the confidencelevels reached. It must be noticed that, without information regardingthe way and coordination in which the specific motion is executed, theconfidence level is not increased.

OUTPUT EXAMPLE 1 [SEC1] No forehands detected in file [SEC1] Single BACKfrom S2 at frame 778 [SEC1] Single BACK from S2 at frame 1185 [SEC1]Single BACK from S2 at frame 1552 [SEC1] Single BACK from S2 at frame1941 [SEC1] Single BACK from S2 at frame 2406 [SEC1] Single BACK from S2at frame 2800 [SEC1] No overheads in file [SEC1] -- End ofclassification -- [SEC1] CONFIDENCE ANALYSIS: [SEC1] Total number ofunique shots: 6  0 1 0  0 1 0  0 1 0  0 1 0  0 1 0  0 1 0 [SEC1]Classification confidence %  - BACK at frame 778 - 100%  - BACK at frame1185 - 100%  - BACK at frame 1552 - 100%  - BACK at frame 1941 - 100%  -BACK at frame 2406 - 100%  - BACK at frame 2800 - 100% OUTPUT EXAMPLE 2on match [SEC1] Overlapping shot (Fore->Over) found at: S1.FORE >> 2341|| S2.OVER >> 2360 [SEC1] No overlaps found for FORE data [SEC1] Nooverlaps found for FORE data [SEC1] No overlaps found for FORE data[SEC1] Overlapping shot (Fore->Over) found at: S1.FORE >> 7175 ||S2.OVER >> 7178 [SEC1] Overlapping shot (Fore->Over) found at:S1.FORE >> 7650 || S2.OVER >> 7653 [SEC1] Single BACK from S2 at frame6332 [SEC1] Overlapping shot (Over->Over) found at: S1.OVER >> 9538 ||S2.OVER >> 9553 [SEC1] Overlapping shot (Over->Back) found at:S1.OVER >> 10860 || S2.BACK >> 10855 [SEC1] -- End of classification --[SEC1] CONFIDENCE ANALYSIS: [SEC1] Total number of unique shots: 9   01.0000 0  1.0000 0 0  1.0000 0 0  1.0000 0 0  0.5000 0 0.5000  0.5000 00.5000  0.5000 0 0.5000   0 0.5000 0.5000   0 0 1.0000 [SEC1]Classification confidence %  - BACK at frame 6332 - 100%  - FORE atframe 4974 - 100%  - FORE at frame 5542 - 100%  - FORE at frame 6772 -100%  - FORE at frame 2341 - 50%  - OVER at frame 2360 - 50%  - FORE atframe 7175 - 50%  - OVER at frame 7178 - 50%  - FORE at frame 7650 - 50% - OVER at frame 7653 - 50%  - BACK at frame 10855 - 50%  - OVER atframe 10855 - 50%  - OVER at frame 9538 - 100%When SEDA3 algorithm output is included in the classifier, confidencelevel can therefore increase.

Phases and Dimensions

As previously described, acceleration and angular velocity of bodysegments are used locally in order to split movement. An automaticmachine previously described is able to use movement patterns based onjoint kinematics to identify the specific movement involved, thereforedetecting the beginning and end of each phase and their alterations.

FIG. 8B shows a schematic representation of a recognized motion by SEDA1and SEDA2, where the start, end of motion are visible together with theball hit event and specific features which are obtained from thedetected motion. When SEDA3 is applied, the ensemble of parameters whichcharacterize the entire motion increases in the sense that is possibleto identify which parts of the body are varying within the interval[start gesture, end of gesture]. The identification of the ball eventthat by definition is within the above interval, allows automatically toseparate the entire motion into two different phases, one before the hitand the other after the hit.

All the parameters that are averaged along the time interval, can berecalculated for each of the two intervals identified by the two phases.However, each phase can be further described and split into sub-phasesby means of an event different from the ball hit as shown in FIG. 8C.For example, the phase before the hit contains not only the preparationphase for the gesture but also the phase just before the hit.

As it can be normally verified in training settings, there can be somepart of these phases which contribute positively or negative to theexecution of the gesture. This can be explained by the fact that, foreach sub-phase fit is possible to identify a certain number of variables(inertial or kinematics) which contain a variability v which can differfor each sub-phase and/or repetition of movement. It must be noticedthat each sub-phase is also characterized by a timeline t.

Therefore, while the local analysis around the ball hit is a4-dimensional analysis, when the correctness of motion needs to beidentified, the number of dimensions becomes 4*f. A certain motion cantherefore be characterized by N parameters calculated within 4*fdimensions.

User Interface Tennis Application

The embodiments may thus provide the following features alone or incombination:

-   -   Translating complex technology and database into a very        simple-to-interpret interface;    -   Pivot chart to simplify complex database representation to the        users;    -   Connecting the chart to the 3D animation and chart manipulation        for easy visualization; and    -   Virtual product placement for embedded marketing for        monetization.

The embodiments may thus provide the following features alone or incombination. The embodiments may use an easy to use UI to translatethese very complex technology and database and present them into a verysimple-to-interpret interface. There are several concepts that enhancethe user's experience:

1. Clarity: Simple, clean, and streamlined design

2. Familiarity: Clear icons with good metaphors

3. Efficiency: Good icon's placement

4. Instant gratification: Fewer steps for quicker access

5. Aesthetics: Realistic 3D rendering and animation

A simple, clean, and streamlined design allows the users to navigateeasily, especially those of whom with not much computer experience (seethe flow chart below). Each icon clearly represents a particular viewfor the users to recognize it quickly. The location of icons is designedto accommodate easy access when holding the mobile device (Placement onthe left and right allows the users to navigate with ease and comfort).It also needs to allow users to enjoy the main functionalities withouthaving to go through many steps, i.e., login steps. The 3D rendering andanimation is essential and may attempt to display images as realistic aspossible to allow detailed analysis by the users.

FIG. 8D shows an exemplary user interface (UI) for tennis application.The UI allows the users to access the live animation immediately withouthaving them to go through registration. The goal may be to keep themengaged quickly and curious to know further. There may be Chart,History, Setting, and Back on the left side close to the left thumb foreasy access by the left thumb. The right side, for the right thumb,gives access to the 3D manipulation and camera set up.

The embodiments may provide access to a rich database to be analyzed.The richness of the data may overwhelm the users, hence, a simplepresentation may be provided via a pivot chart. The x-axis representsthe strokes. The y-axis can pivot to different data attributes to beanalyzed, i.e. swing speed, vibration, footsteps, elbow flexion/angle,knee angle/bend, balance, etc. The z-axis represents the type of stroke.

FIG. 8E shows an exemplary pivot chart, where the data can becategorized by the stroke type. The attributes of each stroke are thencategorized into color-coded groups when the data is related to eachother. Each point in the chart is represented with color-coded tennisball. The red means good stroke, yellow/orange means better stroke, andgreen means best stroke. Users can visually recognize the overallperformance quickly based on the colors. Zooming in/out of the chart canbe done by pinching and spreading with two fingers. Scrolling the chartleft and right can be done by swiping with one finger. Tapping each ballwill bring the 3D avatar animation, replaying that particular stroke.

FIG. 8F shows an exemplary history that allows a user to keep track ofhis training, where each tennis ball represents a training day. Thehistory allows a user or registered users to keep track of theirtraining. According to one embodiment, FIG. 8G shows an exemplarybackground of the UI showing the history that allows a business oradvertiser to buy embedded marketing or product placement formonetization. As shown in FIG. 8H, there is a product placement ofTuringSense. As to sensor placement, one embodiment may enable flexibleplacement sensor on different body segments and various sensor locationconfigurations to achieve a rich set of motion analysis. Each sensor maybe programmable to be placed on different body segments, allowinggreater flexibility to do motion analysis and motion capture. Forexample, a sensor for the wrist can also be placed on the ankle. Thisflexibility allows a small set of sensors (e.g., 5 sensors) to achieve acomprehensive motion analysis. The following table shows an example ofsensor placement

Attributes # of sensors Locations Start of motion 1 Wrist End of motion1 Wrist Ball contact 1 Wrist Racquet height at 5 Chest, scapula, upperarm, contact wrist, hand Type of motion 1 Wrist Sub-type of motion 3Chest, upper arm, wrist Swing speed 1 Wrist Hand acceleration 1 HandElbow flexion 3 Chest, upper arm, wrist Elbow pronation 3 Chest, upperarm, wrist Number of steps 1 Shank Knee flexion 3 Chest, thigh, shankNumber of repetition 1 Wrist

All of the methods and tasks described herein may be performed and fullyautomated by a computer system. The computer system may, in some cases,include multiple distinct computers or computing devices (e.g., physicalservers, workstations, storage arrays, etc.) that communicate andinteroperate over a network to perform the described functions. Eachsuch computing device typically includes a processor (or multipleprocessors) that executes program instructions or modules stored in amemory or other non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ordevice. The various functions disclosed herein may be embodied in suchprogram instructions, although some or all of the disclosed functionsmay alternatively be implemented in application-specific circuitry(e.g., ASICs or FPGAs) of the computer system. Where the computer systemincludes multiple computing devices, these devices may, but need not, beco-located, and may be cloud-based devices that are assigned dynamicallyto particular tasks. The results of the disclosed methods and tasks maybe persistently stored by transforming physical storage devices, such assolid state memory chips and/or magnetic disks, into a different state.

The methods and processes described above may be embodied in, and fullyautomated via, software code modules executed by one or more generalpurpose computers. Some or all of the methods may alternatively beembodied in specialized computer hardware. Code modules or any type ofdata may be stored on any type of non-transitory computer-readablemedium, such as physical computer storage including hard drives, solidstate memory, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM),optical disc, volatile or non-volatile storage, combinations of the sameand/or the like. The methods and modules (or data) may also betransmitted as generated data signals (e.g., as part of a carrier waveor other analog or digital propagated signal) on a variety ofcomputer-readable transmission mediums, including wireless-based andwired/cable-based mediums, and may take a variety of forms (e.g., aspart of a single or multiplexed analog signal, or as multiple discretedigital packets or frames). The results of the disclosed methods may bestored in any type of non-transitory computer data repository,relational databases and flat file systems that use magnetic diskstorage and/or solid state RAM. Some or all of the components shown inthe figures, such as those that are part of the Customer System, may beimplemented in a cloud computing system.

Further, certain implementations of the functionality of the presentdisclosure are sufficiently mathematically, computationally, ortechnically complex that application-specific hardware or one or morephysical computing devices (utilizing appropriate executableinstructions) may be necessary to perform the functionality, forexample, due to the volume or complexity of the calculations involved orto provide results substantially in real-time.

Any processes, blocks, states, steps, or functionalities in flowdiagrams described herein and/or depicted in the attached figures shouldbe understood as potentially representing code modules, segments, orportions of code which include one or more executable instructions forimplementing specific functions (e.g., logical or arithmetical) or stepsin the process. The various processes, blocks, states, steps, orfunctionalities can be combined, rearranged, added to, deleted from,modified, or otherwise changed from the illustrative examples providedherein. In some embodiments, additional or different computing systemsor code modules may perform some or all of the functionalities describedherein. The methods and processes described herein are also not limitedto any particular sequence, and the blocks, steps, or states relatingthereto can be performed in other sequences that are appropriate, forexample, in serial, in parallel, or in some other manner. Tasks orevents may be added to or removed from the disclosed exampleembodiments. Moreover, the separation of various system components inthe implementations described herein is for illustrative purposes andshould not be understood as requiring such separation in allimplementations. It should be understood that the described programcomponents, methods, and systems can generally be integrated together ina single computer product or packaged into multiple computer products.Many implementation variations are possible.

The processes, methods, and systems may be implemented in a network (ordistributed) computing environment. Network environments includeenterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, local area networks (LAN),wide area networks (WAN), personal area networks (PAN), cloud computingnetworks, crowd-sourced computing networks, the Internet, and the WorldWide Web. The network may be a wired or a wireless network or any othertype of communication network.

The present invention has been described in sufficient details with acertain degree of particularity. It is understood to those skilled inthe art that the present disclosure of embodiments has been made by wayof examples only and that numerous changes in the arrangement andcombination of parts may be resorted without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention as claimed. Accordingly, the scope of thepresent invention is defined by the appended claims rather than theforegoing description of embodiments.

We claim:
 1. A method for capturing motion performed by a user, themethod comprising: generating sensing signals from a plurality of sensormodules respectively attached to different parts of a body, at least oneof the sensor modules acting as hub module and the rest of the sensormodules acting as satellite modules, and each of the sensor modulesincluding a microcontroller, at least an inertial sensor and atransceiver for intercommunication with the hub module; generatingsensing data at a predefined frequency from the sensing signals when theuser makes the motion; collecting in the hub module the sensing datafrom the satellite modules; combining the sensing data from thesatellite modules with the sensing data generated within the hub module;transporting wirelessly to an external device designated to derive themotion of the user and facilitate a comparison between the derivedmotion with stored motion to illustrate a difference between the motionmade by the user and motion made by another person.
 2. The method asrecited in claim 1, wherein the sensing data from the sensor modules areall synchronized in time.
 3. The method as recited in claim 2, whereinthe hub module is in different shape from the satellite modules.
 4. Themethod as recited in claim 1, wherein said collecting in the hub modulethe sensing data from the satellite modules comprises: establishing acommunication session over at least one channel between the hub moduleand each of the satellite modules, wherein the channel is one of a setof predefined channels.
 5. The method as recited in claim 4, whereinsaid collecting in the hub module the sensing data from the satellitemodules further comprises: detecting which one of the satellite modulesis not sending over the sensing data; and sending a control flow commandto backpressure the satellite module.
 6. The method as recited in claim4, wherein the hub module communicates with each of the satellitemodules per a protocol.
 7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein theprotocol is Enhanced Shockburst (ESB) high-speed (2 Mbps) protocol. 8.The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the protocol is a wirelessprotocol with packet header and payload definition of a simple/barebonephysical media network layer.
 9. The method as recited in claim 4,wherein said collecting in the hub module the sensing data from thesatellite modules further comprises: determining if the channel shows adowngrading performance; looking for another channel free ofinterference when the channel is determined having the downgradingperformance; and switching the communication session to the anotherchannel.
 10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein each of thepredefined channels operates at a predefined frequency and has apredefined bandwidth.
 11. The method as recited in claim 10, furthercomprising: informing each of the satellite modules when the hub moduleswitches to the another channel.
 12. The method as recited in claim 11,wherein each of the satellite modules switches to the another channelunconditionally.
 13. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein each ofthe satellite modules is identified with an identifier, and the methodfurther comprising: communicating by the hub module to each of thesatellite modules in a predefined order based on the identifier of theeach of the satellite modules.
 14. The method as recited in claim 10,wherein the predefined bandwidth is doubled to increase a speed.
 15. Themethod as recited in claim 4, wherein the communication session is overan inbound and an outbound channels, one for data flow from the hubmodule to the each of the satellite modules and another for data flowfrom the each of the satellite modules to the hub module.
 16. The methodas recited in claim 15, further comprising: measuring data transmissionperformance between the hub module and the each of the satellite on around trip going through both of the inbound and outbound channels. 17.A system for capturing motion performed by a user, the systemcomprising: a plurality of sensor modules, respectively attached todifferent parts of a body, generating sensing signals from, at least oneof the sensor modules acting as hub module and the rest of the sensormodules acting as satellite modules, and each of the sensor modulesincluding a microcontroller, at least an inertial sensor and atransceiver for intercommunication with the hub module; each of thesensor modules generating sensing data at a predefined frequency fromthe sensing signals when the user makes the motion; the hub moduleconfigured to collect the sensing data from the satellite modules,combine the sensing data from the satellite modules with the sensingdata generated within the hub module, and transport wirelessly to anexternal device designated to derive the motion of the user andfacilitate a comparison between the derived motion with stored motion toillustrate a difference between the motion made by the user and motionmade by another person.
 18. The system as recited in claim 17, whereinthe hub module establishes a communication session over at least onechannel with each of the satellite modules.
 19. The system as recited inclaim 18, wherein the channel is switched to another channel when thereis downgraded performance in the channel.
 20. The system as recited inclaim 18, wherein the communication session is established over aninbound and outbound channels least between the hub module and each ofthe satellite modules.